An effort to get the U.S. Postal Service to commemorate legendary Hawaiian entertainer Alfred Apaka's birth centennial with a stamp has the visitor industry's seal of approval, but it needs more support.

A group, led by Apaka's son Jeff Apaka and other members of Hawaii's visitor and entertainment industry, is seeking to get the stamp issued on March 19, 2019, which would have been Alfred Apaka's 100th birthday.

Known as the "Golden Voice of Hawaii," Apaka perfected a hapa-haole style of music, which weaved Polynesian themes into pop tunes with English lyrics.

Apaka's talent and his exotic good looks made him an irresistible star. He was of Chinese, Portuguese and Hawaiian ancestry.

"I remember my mother watching him on TV. He had those big melting eyes, and when you heard him you just wanted a mai tai. Nobody croons like that guy," said Sandra Bonura, a researcher and Hawaiian-history author.

That charisma and talent is why Kaiser made him entertainment manager of the Hawaiian Village and watched gleefully as he filled up the property's mammoth geodesic dome.

"Mr. Kaiser was a fantastic marketer, and he wanted to give customers the full Hawaiian experience with grass shacks and fantastic entertainment," Gallagher said. "When he (Apaka) died it caused a panic. They went through almost every Hawaiian entertainer possible looking for someone that was as good as Alfred Apaka. There was nobody like him. He wasn't just a Hawaiian singer; he could reach nations."

But Bonura said there was more to Apaka than glam. His great-aunt Lydia Aholo was the hanai daughter of Queen Liliuokalani, another great Hawaiian musician, she said. Aholo, who studied music at Oberlin College, shared her knowledge with Apaka.

"There's a tape where Lydia Aholo talked about her life with the queen. In it she says that nobody sings the queen's compositions the way that they are supposed to be sung but her Alfred Apaka," Bonura said. "Even today, when I'm giving a history lecture and I play his music, tears run down the faces of the older people. He strikes a chord. Let's not forget him."

According to the guidelines, the U.S. Postal Service looks for a balance of stamp topics, including timely, relevant and contemporary subjects that reflect the nation's diverse population. While supporters say Apaka fits the bill, they are aware that it's going to take widespread support to move the effort forward.

I have become somewhat of an expert on Kawaiahao'o Seminary. I have just finished writing the history of the school and it is being published by the Hawaiian Journal of History, 2017. f If anyone is looking for information on this former girls' boarding school i...I would be happy to share!

The Cookes had arrived in Honolulu in 1837 with the largest assemblage ever sent by the ABCFM. The company was primarily composed of married teaching teams and was charged by the American Board with Christianizing the nation through trained educators.

Amos Cooke was offered the momentous responsibility of teaching and living with the children of Hawaii's highest chiefs.

He left behind twelve leather-bound volumes of intensely private diaries full of self-admonition, frustration, and confessions that spanned his decade in the school. Amos enjoyed keeping detailed records of living with the royal "scholars," as evidenced by thousands of meticulous pages that are now nearly two centuries old.

One incident among many occurred where royal children were punished above and beyond what a jailed criminal would have received during this time. Moses, the lineal descendant of Kamehameha I was especially treated harsh by Mr. Cooke throughout the years. One episode involved the opening of a blind to peer out into the yard by young Moses, who had been sent to his room for confinement. He was given "15 stripes on the back with a whip[i]" for that small peek outside the window. The following Saturday morning, eleven-year-old Prince Alexander and his brother, fifteen-year-old Prince Lot, were accused of withholding the "whole truth" on some incidental matter. Amos recorded that he used his "rawhide whip" to administer an astounding fifteen "stripes" on future King Kamehameha IV and twenty stripes on the future King Kamehameha V.

The Cookes ultimately educated sixteen royal children, five of whom became the last rulers of the Hawaiian Kingdom from 1855 to 1903, namely: Alexander Liholiho, Lot Kamehameha, William Lunalilo, David Kalakaua, and Lydia Liliuokalani. King Kalakaua and his sister Liliuokalani would be the last of the ruling monarchs.

I have just finished editing 15 years of his diaries. MY OH MY! I now wonder what I should do with this "hot mess." These royal children were abused. No doubt about it.

Aloha e Sandra...
My name is Mindi Reid...I am a minor member of The Hawaiian Historical Society, The Friends of 'Iolani Palace (the late Jim Bartels was a very dear personal friend), and while not an academic, have written articles about Princess Ka'iulani and her Aunt for such publications as "Majesty" magazine (London). Am just finishing your bio of Ida Pope, which was a gift from my sister for Christmas. So...here I am reading your blog, and finding your comment about the brutality of Amos Cooke...ah, yes. I have always felt it was very easy to understand why someone with the critical intelligence of David Kalakaua turned away from Christianity angrily...what he experienced personally and observed in relation to his siblings/ relations at the hands of this man more than accounts for it. Hope you write further.